When everyday routines take a pause, space opens up for new ideas

Friday: Start From Scratch

In February, our team went on its annual off-site retreat: two days away from the daily project routine to rethink things in new and different ways. As usual, we kicked off our retreat with an internal „unconference“: no preset agenda, no slide decks, no lectures – just topics brought forward by the team in real time and opened up for discussion. Within minutes, our whiteboard filled with issues that were highly relevant to us: technical, strategic, and even surprisingly fundamental ones. Anyone with an idea takes responsibility for it; anyone who brings a question finds others willing to think it through together. This format often reveals where untapped potential lies or where processes can still be improved, but above all, it shows just how much curiosity, foresight, and willingness to shape things exists within the team.

 

What makes the unconference particularly special is that, through the team’s active involvement, it directly reflects the topics that matter most to them. The result: strong engagement and a greater sense of ownership over the solutions we developed, many of which are already being implemented.

Saturday: A Change of Perspective – Training with a View

That same evening, we quite literally shifted perspectives. Over dinner at Hotel Achalm, overlooking the grassy hills and the rooftops of the city of Reutlingen, there was plenty of conversation and laughter. Some of the discussions that began between the main course and dessert turned out to have a surprisingly lasting impact.
The next day, we delved deeper into a topic that is often underestimated in everyday work life: health in the workplace. Together with our trainers from Aventicon, we explored what causes us stress and why stress is not only an individual issue, but often also has structural and communicative dimensions. The occupational psychology perspective was particularly insightful: How do communication barriers arise, and what does it take to make exchanges truly constructive?

In addition to theory and a broader understanding of the bigger picture, the focus was on practical tools: techniques for managing stress, approaches to strengthening resilience, and methods for self-organization and appreciative communication. We were able to try out and reflect on some of these directly and can now apply them to our own working contexts in the future.

What remains?

From time to time, it takes a bit of distance to question ingrained ways of thinking, adopt new perspectives, and initiate concrete measures. Several of the solutions discussed during the unconference, as well as the impulses from the training, have since found their way into our daily work—whether in the form of new communication routines, adjusted processes, or a more conscious approach to workload and stress. The team returned to their desks the following Monday with sharpened perspectives and a new set of tools at their disposal.